Here's another conversion of Battlefront's Rolls Royce armoured car, this time to (sort of) the 1916 version, using my 3d-printed conversion set from Shapeways. I didn't do anything about the spare wheels, which should also be spoked, so I probably should add another couple of single wheels to the set. Again, I rather regret being a cheapskate and going for WSF plastic instead of high-resolution FUD resin, even more so than in my other conversion, because the WSF really didn't resolve the wheel spokes much at all, and I had to paint them in, which is not nearly as good.

Friday, March 25, 2016

To those of you that have been following *Rough Riders On Mars!*, first let me express my gratitude for you interest in that project. Thank you. Let me assure you that Teddy and the gang will have their hands full of intrigues and hostiles before too much longer, probably about chapter 8 or so. The idea of *Rough Riders On Mars!* came to me after I completed the initial draft of my *Edison's Conquest Of Mars* wargame rules. These rules are somewhat based on the novel by Garret P. Serviss of the same title as well as elements from numerous other sword and planet novels. Currently, ... more »

Postwar situation

After the war, the Royal Armored Corp was limited to a mere five tank battalions equipped with the heavy Mark V and Medium Mark C. The government allotted a substantial budget to a new, promising design of a heavy amphibious tank, designed by Colonel Johnson of the Tank Design Department, the Medium Mark D. However, the latter quickly proved far too ambitious and the whole project failed. No public spending was therefore allocated after this experience, but Vickers-Armstrong, already having chosen to follow its own inspiration, designed a new tank, both for internal demand and the export market. Two prototypes had already been built by 1921. The first represented a leap forward compared to wartime designs.

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

“What if?” Literary scholars say that question has driven science fiction since time immemorial, and the made-for-TV movie The Great Martian War poses a doozy: What if Mars invaded Earth in 1913?

The Great Martian War isn’t a sci-fi B picture exactly. It airs on
History and has been carefully crafted to look, sound and feel like a
historical documentary, complete with grainy archival footage, witness
testimony from aging survivors and the analysis and deconstruction of
present-day experts.

The Great Martian War combines computer-generated images of alien
invaders and film footage from the First World War to create the
illusion that a Martian invasion actually happened. Think of it as Orson
Welles’s The War of the Worlds crossed with Woody Allen’s Zelig,
dressed up as a historical documentary, complete with portentous
narration (“A century ago these fields were the bloody arena for the
most terrible conflict in human history …”) and brooding, “important”
background music.

Another elderly witness recalls, in a shaking, halting voice, “There
was life beyond our planet! It went against everything I was raised to
believe … An entire generation of young men, all of them vanished.”

Whether The Great Martian War is for you will depend a lot on your
sensibilities. More serious-minded viewers may be offended that actual
First World War film footage of a real, bloody conflict involving actual
living, breathing people has been manipulated for use in a sci-fi pulp
adventure.

Many viewers, though — most, perhaps — will be drawn in by the
compelling way The Great Martian War poses its central mystery. It’s
silly, sure, yet strangely addictive. It uses every filmmaking trick in
the history documentarian’s playbook, from grainy archival footage to
the testimony of present-day experts such as “war historian and
broadcaster” Duncan Mitchell Myers, who explains how an unexplained
explosion in the middle of Germany’s Black Forest triggered a rush to
war.

At two hours, The Great Martian War seems repetitive at times, a
little like a one-joke comedy stretched too long. It’s cleverly put
together, though, with small, welcome touches like war vet Hughie Logan
“of Calgary, Canada” — “filmed in 1987,” according to the caption — who
recalls that going to war meant leaving loved ones behind at home to
ponder his fate on the battlefield.

The Great Martian War isn’t mere pulp entertainment. The centenary
commemorations of the First World War — the actual war — are just around
the corner. In an indirect, almost offhand way, The Great Martian War
seems calculated to appeal to a younger generation raised to believe
that historical documentaries are tedious and uninspiring.

The Great Martian War may remind some moviegoers of the 2004 Gwyneth
Paltrow film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which was filmed in
sepia tones and set in an alternative 1939. There’s an almost heedless
energy to the way The Great Martian War tells its story. It’s a novelty,
but an inventive and surprisingly engaging novelty. Provided, that is,
one doesn’t take it too seriously. It’s not Ken Burns, after all.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

The most produced tank in history?

Still classed as a medium tank, the T-54 was clearly a superior design to the T-44. Nowadays it is seen as an all-out classic of the Cold War. The T-55 version, which appeared in 1958, was the sum of all the modifications applied to the previous T-54 series, with several differences which made a clear distinction from the previous model. One of these was NBC protection and a brand new engine. T-54s were modernized over time to the T-55 standard, leading to a nearly indistinguishable “T-54/55” generic type.

The Evil Empire on the Brazos(BEE) chronicles the on goingwars (games) and the diplomaticefforts (Posts/GNN Reports) ofall the known nations (wargamecollections) in my little area of thegalaxy.My goal is to both entertain

and inform those new to art ofminiature wargaming, and have afew laughs with it. This Blog isopen to all and also welcomescomment from all and I hopethat many will come to join inthe madness.....)